The present invention relates to textile materials and, more particularly to woven bands.
The invention may be utilized to the best advantage in safety belts for drivers and passengers of transport vehicles, for example, automobiles. It is equally applicable, however, as a load-carrying means in loading operation, in which it is of vital importance to check the effects of overloads which may subsequently lead to the breading of a load-carrying means.
Safety belts are, at present, extensively used by atuomobile drivers and passengers and have proven to be an important factor which accounts for a substantially reduced death rate caused by accidents; they also may be an aid in the mitigation of the consequences of accidents.
However, the band for a safety belt can withstand only once a considerable tensile force which absorbs the maximum amount of the kinetic energy caused by an automobile accident.
Loads which exceed the limiting magnitude for a given band result in irreversible changes in its structure which sharply reduce the strength and energy absorption capacity of the band in case it is subjected to another significant stress.
This said load limit may occur in relatively minor accidents which in themselves may not be dangerous to the driver and passengers or to the automobile.
Because of the comparatively high cost of safety belts, car and truck owners who have been victims of a road accident try to spend as little as possible to repair the damage. In many cases they do not replace, as they should, safety belts subjected to overloads, partially because of the fact that a car or truck owner has no way of knowing whether the stress taken by the belts in an accident has been in excess of the limiting magnitude. In view of the above, it is of an urgent necessity to provide safety belts having built-in overlaod indicators which ensures 100% detection of belts having been subjected to overloads. This will apprise owners of transport vehicles to immediately replace worn-out belts. Furthermore, this enables traffic police to check the state of the safety belts. Safety belts manufactures will be spared unjustified discredit with respect to their products, and suits brought against them by relatives of those who have died in road accidents because of defective safety belts will be rendered obviously unfounded.